Increasing numbers of organizations which issue transaction cards to their users, customers, or employees require cards tailored to meet the requirements of their particular service or application. These organizations also want the cards to contain data about the card holder. Existing transaction cards encode such data in a magnetic stripe on the back of the card but the amount of data that can be held by a magnetic stripe is limited. A new type of transaction card embeds a microprocessor computer chip in the plastic of the card to greatly increase the card's data storage capacity. Additionally, sophisticated card applications specific to the card issuer can execute in certain varieties of the chips, and the chip may also contain a type of operating system. Transaction cards with embedded chips are referred to in the industry as portable programmed data carriers, more commonly called "smart cards." The chip in a smart card is programmed with initialization and/or personalization data at the same time as the surface of the card is being embossed and/or printed.
The initialization data comprises three major types of information: application data, security data, and printed data. The application data is common to all cards for a given card application and includes application program code and variables. The security data prevents fraudulent use of the card and is usually provided in the form of "secure keys." Printed data, such as a logo, bar codes, and various types of numerical information, are placed on the surface of the card. Some or all of the same data can also be embossed on the surface. Optical technology also can be employed to make part or all of the surface of the card into a storage medium with data accessible by an appropriate optical reader.
Smart cards are also programmed with information specific to an individual card holder through a process called "personalization." The personalization information for a smart card is similar to the personalization information currently contained on non-smart cards, such as the card holder's name, account number, card expiration date, and a photograph. Because of its increased storage capacity, the chip in a smart card can contain additional data beyond the basic information on the standard transaction card including a graphical representation of the individual's signature, data defining the types of service the card holder is entitled to, and account limits for those services.
The smart card issuing process must control and report on each personalized card and the results of the personalization process. Extensive report and audit files thus must be maintained to support the card tracking requirements.
Currently, a smart card issuing system must be tailored to meet the requirements of a specific card application that will be programmed on a specific type of smart card under the control of a specific card operating system and to format the data for the card to be compatible with a specific type of personalization equipment chosen to issue the card. The entire issuing system must be re-configured whenever any one of these variables (issuer application, smart card/card operating system, and/or personalization equipment) is changed, increasing the time and cost incurred by the issuer of the card in delivering personalized smart cards to its customers. Additionally, many of the current issuing systems lack a viable means to provide dynamic feedback regarding the status of any particular batch of cards in the process to the card issuer.
Furthermore, the smart card issuing systems in use today utilize a proprietary approach developed by either the card manufacturer or the personalization equipment manufacturer. To encourage sales of their respective cards or equipment, each manufacturer develops a unique personalization solution for a particular card application, and each solution is specific to a particular card issuer. These unique solutions are intended to optimize performance of the cards or equipment and thus do not permit a more inclusive, generalized personalization process that accepts any card operating system and/or work with any personalization equipment.
As the demand for smart cards increases, a smart card issuing system which permits the card issuers to use any type of personalization equipment to handle multiple types of smart cards, and their attendant operating systems, and to embed the issuers' specific card applications along with the required card holder data in any of the various types of smart cards is required.